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Anna Tribble Hanged
for the Murder of her new born Babe
"The State" - October 8, 1892
Newberry Oct. 7 - There has not been an
official hanging in Newberry since 1876 until today. Sheriff Riser began
yesterday the preparations for the execution today. The scaffold was built
by cutting a hole in the floor of the corridor of the third story of the
jail, and giving the drop to the floor below, of four or five feet. The
arrangements were good and everything was neatly done. The sheriff gave
out a few tickets and the execution was witnessed by two dozen or more,
including the reporters.
The unfortunate victim of today's
execution was Anna Tribble, an unmarried colored woman, who murdered her
infant child. On the 24th day of last February a new born baby was found
in a hole of water in a branch near Silver Street, in this county. The
coroner's investigation developed the fact that Anna Tribble was the
mother of the child, and that it has been born by the side of the stream
and thrown in the water by the hands of its own mother, and also that it
had been alive. At the march term of the court the mother was placed on
trial for murder, and convicted and sentenced to be hanged. Governor
Tillman gave a respite for thirty days, but further declined to interfere,
though petitioned to do so, and today Anna Tribble expiated her crime upon
the gallows.
During this morning she bore evidences of insanity by
the manner in which she took on - raving, talking at random and tearing
her clothing. When the hour came for the execution she refused to go to
the scaffold, and had to be forced and held up until the knot could be
fastened and the rope adjusted. The sheriff had good clothes prepared for
her, but she tore them when she could. Rev. F. R. Wallace, a colored
Baptist minister, was with her, and after the rope had been adjusted
offered a fervent prayer in behalf of the unfortunate woman. He had been
praying with her before this also. She made no statement as to what she
expected in the future, and no statement at all except to protest her
innocence. After the adjustment of the cap and rope she quieted down, and
knew every one and made no effort to appear insane.
At 1:51 p.m.,
Sheriff Riser pulled the fatal trigger, and the spirit of Anna Tribble was
ushered into the great unknown, there to face her child and her God. In
one and a half minutes life was pronounced extinct. Her neck was not
broken, but she died without a struggle. The drop was four
feet.
When Drs. Houseal and Kibler pronounced life extinct, the
body was cut down and turned over to her relatives and friends, who took
it in charge and buried it.
This was Sheriff Riser's first
execution, but everything was decently and neatly and as humanely done as
it was possible. He treated the prisoner gently and kindly and bade her
good-bye.
Henry Baxter is
Killed by a White Man
"The State" - October 13, 1913
Newberry, Oct. 12 - Henry Baxter, a
negro man 35 or 40 years of age, was shot and killed about 2 o'clock this
morning at Glymphville, in this country, by Hagood Brown, 21 years old,
son of W. Frank Brown. Mr. Brown shot three times with a pistol, tow of
the balls taking effect and causing death. Coroner Lindsay went out today
to hold the inquest. The scene of the killing is 16 miles north-east of
Newberry. When Sheriff Blease learned of the killing he started at once,
but when he reached the place he found that Mr. Brown had started to town
to surrender and the sheriff overtook him, coming by a different road,
near town. The young man declines to make a statement. John Brown, a
negro, at whose house the killing was, testified before the coroner that
Brown went to his house this morning between 2 and 3 o'clock and that he
was drinking. Brown said he had given somebody a $1 bill and wanted it
back or else a quart of whiskey; said he gave it to Henry Baxter, which
Baxter denied, but said rather than have a fuss he would pay him a dollar,
and directed his wife to get it. While she was getting it, Brown began to
shoot and shot three times. The only other white person named as being
present was Wallace Suber. John Pope and his wife, Alice Pope, were the
only witnesses put up by the coroner.
Another shooting took place just two
miles northeast of town last night at 7 o'clock. Carrie Derrick, a negro,
was shot in the leg, the wound being only a slight wound. She says she was
in her house when there came a knock on the door; she opened the door and
a negro man stood there whom she did not know. They talked a while and he
drew a pistol and shot her for nothing. The sheriff went out and look for
the shooter, but could not find him. He thinks the woman knows who shot
her.
A Sad
Affray
"The Union Democrat" December 15, 1880
The case of James Thomas, for the
killing of John L. Lyles, came up on an application before Judge Wallace
for bail, David Johnson Jr., Esq., representing the prisoner, and Mr.
William Munro, representing the state, at the request of the Solicitor.
The facts elicited were in substance as follows:
At an estate sale, in Newberry County,
on the 3rd inst., there occurred an altercation between James Thomas Sr.
and J. L. Lyles, in which ??? used by both parties. Upon James Thomas Jr.,
interposing with an insulting remark, Lyles drew a pistol and fired upon
him. When Thomas attempted to return the fire, he found that his pistol
was useless, upon which he retreated. The father, James Thomas Sr., upon
making an effort to put a stop to Lyles attack on his son, was himself
shot through the body by Lyles and has since died of the wound. Another
brother making a similar effort was shot in the head. James Thomas, Jr.,
upon being pursued by Lyles, and finding his pistol would not fire, threw
the weapon at his antagonist and continued his retreat across a fence,
Lyles pursuing and firing at him. Thomas at length attempted to return to
the place where the ? began, and where his wounded father and brother
were. Lyles advanced to intercept him, and opened fire upon him with his
revolver, which in the meantime he had reloaded. Thomas now armed with a
stout stick continued his course, and met Lyles, who almost at the instant
of collision, fired a ball through the arm of Thomas, who striking back
with the weapon in his hand, slew his antagonist.
Such in brief were some of the
principal circumstances of this most unfortunate affair, in which the gray
headed father of a large family has been made to fill a bloody grave, by
the hand of one who was twice his son-in-law, and a man in the prime of
his life was slain by kindred hands, leaving his bride of a month to
deplore her loss of a fond husband. The sympathies of community have been
deeply excited for both bereaved families, who are of the highest
respectability. Mr. Thomas was admitted to bail in the sum of
$3000.
A Farmer Determined
to Exterminate His Whole Family
The News and Observer, Raleigh, NC - February 12,
1890
Columbia, S.C. - Feb 11 - A special to
the Daily Register says a fearful tragedy was enacted in Newberry county
Saturday afternoon. James B. McClary a farmer who lived five miles from
here seems to have determined to exterminate his whole family. He first
undertook to kill his daughter eighteen years old by shooting her with a
pistol, but was thwarted in the attempt by neighbors who were sent for to
protect the family. While all were present in the room he managed to get
hold of a small ax, and before any one could interfere, he gave his wife
three severe blows on her head, which may prove fatal. She was unconscious
yesterday, but is thought to be some what better now. Sheriff Riser, as
soon as he learned of the affair, went out on Saturday night and brought
McClary here and lodged him in jail yesterday morning. McClary has been
drinking heavily for some years, and possibly was crazed from
drink.
The State, (Columbia, SC)
- February 24, 1994
2 SISTERS KILLED IN ACCIDENT INVOLVING
6 RELATIVES - GIRLS WERE STUDENTS AT NEWBERRY HIGH
Two sisters were thrown from a Suzuki
Samurai and killed Wednesday when the vehicle slammed into a logging truck
in the town of Silverstreet, just outside Newberry.
The four other
passengers in the Suzuki suffered injuries. All six passengers were from
Silverstreet and were related.
Killed in the 7:30 a.m. accident
were sisters Alpha Lee Griffin, 18, and Martha Jean Griffin, 16, both of
Route 1, Box 22-F and both students at Newberry High School.
Both
were riding in the rear of the Suzuki, which had a canvas top covering it
and a hard top covering the front. Martha Griffin hit the windshield of a
car, and Alpha Griffin landed on the grounds of a nearby school. She was
thrown more than 100 feet, said Lance Cpl. J.W. Wilson, of the state
Highway Patrol.
The driver of the Suzuki, George Travis Griffin,
15, of Route 1, Box 24, Silverstreet, a cousin of the dead girls, suffered
cuts, bruises and a broken finger. The 15-year-old, who has a restricted
license allowing him to drive during the day, was treated and released
from Newberry County Memorial Hospital. He was the only one in the Suzuki
wearing a seat belt, said spokeswoman Christy Cox of the state Department
of Public Safety.
His brother, Clifford Brownlow Griffin, 14, was
in stable condition at Newberry County Memorial.
Jesse Griffin, 13,
brother of the dead girls, and Kathy Jeannette Griffin, 17, the sister of
George and Clifford Griffin, were taken to Richland Memorial Hospital.
Jesse Griffin was in stable condition and Kathy Griffin was in critical
condition, according to a nursing supervisor.
The driver of the
truck was not injured, Wilson said.
Wilson said the Suzuki,
traveling north on Spearman Road, a mile north of S.C. 34, had veered into
the southbound lane of the logging truck and then had come back into the
proper lane before going into a spin. He said the Suzuki spun several
times. He said there were no indications it overturned.
The Suzuki
hit between the cab and trailer of the logging truck, spun off and hit the
back of the trailer, before hitting a car. Cox said no charges had been
brought as of Wednesday afternoon.
The deaths of Alpha Griffin, a
senior, and Martha Griffin a junior, were being handled delicately at
Newberry High School. Both were members of the school yearbook
staff.
Principal Steve Wilson said counselors from the local school
district and local mental health agencies spent Wednesday talking to
students about the deaths.
"We've been trying to carry on as normal
as possible. We've allowed the the students to vent and get their
frustrations out," Wilson said.
Counselors will spend part of today
at Newberry High School meeting with students who wanted to talk about the
accident, Wilson said.
Funeral services are scheduled for 4 p.m.
Friday at the Newberry High School gymnasium.
A CHRISTMAS
TRAGEDY FORTY-THREE YEARS AGO
Newberry S.C. Observer, the 31st
ult.
"The Herald & Advertiser": Friday,
September 17, 1909, Newnan, Coweta Co., Georgia
Mr. and Mrs. Elisha
C. Cureton left Newberry yesterday. Their home is at Moreland, Ga. Mrs.
Cureton is a daughter of Mr. James B. Reagin of Newberry. Mr. Cureton
himself once lived in this county. He has many relatives and friends here
who have known and respected him for many years. Strangers have noticed a
clean-shaven, handsome man of middle life, of a cheerful and intellectual
face, propelling himself along the sidewalks in a wheel-chair. That was
Mr. E.C. Cureton of Moreland, Ga., out here on a visit with his wife to
her father's family. Mr. Cureton, though a man of affairs and the head of
a large and prosperous business, has not walked a step in forty-three
years.
Mr. Cureton's father was James Cureton, a native of this
county. His mother was a Schumpert. In 1839 they moved with the Youngs and
Carmicals to Coweta county, Georgia. In 1862 he moved back to his
Newberry, S.C. county home, retaining ownership of his Georgia
farm.
On the night of Dec. 25, 1865, a party of thirty or forty
negroes went out from the town of Newberry, armed with rifles and muskets,
shotguns and pistols. At that time the negroes had been free less than a
year. There was no civil law in South Carolina and the administration of
justice was in the hands of Yankee garrisons. The garrison stationed at
Newberry was composed of as thorough a gang of scoundrels as ever wore
white skins. They had undoubtedly filled the negroes minds with the notion
of killing off the white men and taking possession of the country, as some
of the negroes afterwards confessed, and had supplied them with guns and
ammunition with the admonition to "return them before
daylight."
Between 9 and 9:30 this gang of negroes, without any
warning and for no provocation on earth, broke into the home of Mr. James
Cureton, 8 miles from Newberry, the crashing of the front door being the
first intimation the family had of danger. It was a large two-story
dwelling. Downstairs in one room, were Mr. and Mrs. Cureton and their two
little girls on a trundle bed. The fire had not burned out and there was a
flickering light on the hearth. Outside the moon was shining brightly from
the clear, cold sky. In the upstairs rooms were their daughter Mrs.
Harris, the young widow of a Confederate soldier; their son-in-law and
daughter Mr. and Mrs. George Broom who had been married six months; and
their 13 year old son E.C. Cureton. The elder son Fred, who had been a
member of the "Boy Volunteers" of Co. A. of the 4th Batallion, had been
sent by his father to their former home in Coweta county,
Georgia.
When the front door crashed in and the noisy half-drunken
fiends rushed in, Mr. Cureton leaped out of bed and was fired upon by
several of the party. An ounce ball from an Army rifle pierced his right
lung and went clean through his body. He dropped down on a chair and fell
over onto the bed. Mrs. Cureton caught up the two girls from the trundle
bed and rushed upstairs with them. The negroes continued to shoot and yell
like demons, demanding "Where is George Broom?" The wife and children had
gathered at the head of the stairs where Mr. Broom stood with a five
barrel pistol, determined to get as many of them as he could if they
attempted to climb the stairway. Rushing from the yard into the house and
then into the yard again, none of the negroes attempted to go
upstairs.
Meanwhile, the 13 year old son, E.C. Cureton, unobserved
by the others, slipped down the stairway and going to his father's room,
picked up a double-barrel shot gun that stood in a corner and was turning
with it when a negro raised his army rifle and fired at him. He felt a
stinging sensation in the shoulder and fell over on the floor, the ounce
ball having ploughed its way through his spinal column. He thought he had
received his death wound but felt no pain, and never afterwards felt any
pain from the wound.
At the earnest entreaties of the women, Mr.
Broom consented to go for help, for the negroes had shouted up the stairs
that if he didn't come down they would set fire to the house. He went to a
back window, got on the roof of the shed-room and reaching the edge,
leaped from the roof, passing right over the heads of the two or three
negroes who were standing under the eaves. He struck the ground running.
As soon as they recovered from their surprise, they fired several shots at
him and started in pursuit, but could not overtake him.
Mrs. Broom
missed her little brother and in desperation went down to her father's
room, where some of the negroes still were. She stood in the door leding
into an adjoining room and while there saw three negroes, who were at
another door, poke their guns through the crack of the door and fire at
her father who was sitting on a chair with his body fallen onto the bed,
and partly concealed by the open door. He uttered no sound and she
suupposed, as they all had supposed since the shooting first began, that
he was dead.
While she stood there searching the room with her eyes
for her brother she heard him call to her. She went to him. He told her he
was wounded and could not walk, and asked her to take him out of the room.
She gathered him under the arms and half toting and half dragging him, was
carrying him from the room, when a negro, with his army rifle, fired at
her, the ball passing so close to her head that the concussion knocked her
to the floor. When she came to herself, her mother was there and one
taking the lad by his body, the other by his knees, they carried him
upstairs to his bed.
The negroes left soon after that, and when the
wife and daughters came downstairs, expecting to find the husband and
father dead, they saw a most pathetic sight. His nightshire was on fire
and his breast severely burned and he was bending over with his hand to
the floor dipping up his own blood with which he was trying to extinguish
the fire, which was burning his shirt, and also the blaze that had spread
to his bed clothes. At this time, he told afterwards, he was perfectly
conscious, but made no noise, hoping that when the negroes thought he was
dead, they would go away.
George Broom, when he left the house,
went first to Mr. Jacob Long's about a mile away and thence to Mr. Ellis
Schumpert's and thence to Mr. George Schumpert's, where the young people
of the neighborhood were gathered at a party. When he returned with
assistance it was near 2 o'clock. The white men gathered rapidly.
Physicians at Newberry and Prosperity were sent for. They found that,
besides the wound in the lung, through which the air rushed at every
breath, Mr. James Cureton had received a heavy charge of buckshot in his
side and hip. The doctors thought it was no use to dress his wounds; that
he must die very soon; but Dr. McFall insisted and his wounds were
dressed. Strange to say, the wound through the lung began to heal at once
and he would have recovered but for the wound in the side, which proved
fatal, death occurring five weeks later on Jan. 29, 1866.
While the
white men of the neighborhood had gathered at the Cureton home, in
response to the alarm given by George Broom, and the doctors had been sent
for, search was begun at once for the guilty negroes. By the early morning
several had been caught and, their liquior having died down and being
separated from their leaders, their courage failed them, they being seized
with terror, began to confess and to reveal the names of their accomplices
in the crimes.
The leader was a negro preacher who had belonged to
Mr. Jacob Long. There were several others of the immediate neighborhood
though most of them had come from the town of Newberry. One of them was a
young negro named Dave Harris who had been given to Mrs. Harris by her
father-in-law. He was a favorite of the family when a slave, and
afterwards was very fond of the young Cureton children and they of him.
That very Christmas Dave had come up to the "big house" and called out
"Christmas gif', Mars James" and received his gift. He then told Mr.
Cureton that he was going to town that day, and asked if there was
anything he should do for him before he should go. Mr. Cureton told him to
catch and saddle his horse for him and hitch him at the gate and he did
so.
That night, in the midst of the pandemonium, even the children
recognized Dave's voice as inflamed with liquor, he joined in the
maledictions and curses against the white people. Not one of them had any
grievances of any kind against Mr. Cureton who was a good, kind
man.
Either of their own design or instigated by the Yankee
garrison, they said the latter, they had set out to murder all the white
men in the neighborhood and to take possession. Their plan was, after
killing Mr. Cureton and Mr. Broom, to proceed to the homes of Mr. Jacob
Long, Mr. Elisha Schumpert, Capt. Matthew Hall, Col. William Lester and
others and to kill all the white men there; and they would have done so
but they knew Mr. Broom had given them warning. Mr. Cureton had recognized
several of the party and so had Mr. and Mrs. Broom.
After twelve or
thirteen of the murderous band has been caught by the white men of the
community, the question came up as to what should be done with them. The
younger men were for putting them out of the way without other formality
of the law than their own verdict of their guilt; but the older men begged
them to wait. They consented to wait until they could send to town and
consult with the officers of the garrison.
The officers were
induced to go out to the scene of the crime, where they might see the
evidences of their fiendish work, the father fearfully wounded with guns
and his head hacked with an old sabre, one of the ears being cut almost
from the head; the lad desperately wounded; the door broken down, the
window panes shattered and the many bullet holes in the walls of the
house.
They went and saw, and expressed horror at the deed, and
promised that if the negroes, whom the white men had hidden away to await
the decision, were committed to jail they would see that justice should be
stricly and speedily administered and punishment meted out to the guilty.
Acting upon the promise of the officers of the Yankee garrison that the
negroes would be brought speedily to trial and would have justice meted
out to the guilty, the white
men brought the negroes to the county
jail.
Mr. James Cureton, before his death, knowing the horrible
associations that would linger around the old home, advised his family
that, as soon as his affairs could be settled up, they should return to
Coweta county, Ga. and make their home there. In March they were ready to
go; but the negroes had not yet been brought to trial. All the family
except Mr. and Mrs. George Broom left Newberry county that month for
Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Broom had recognized several of the negroes on
Christmas night and they remained in the county in order to testify
against them, the garrison promising that the trial would soon come
on.
In April the Yankee officers announced that it was necessary to
carry the accused to "headquarters" in Columbia for a trial; that the
trial could come at an early date and that Mr. and Mrs. Broom would be
notified of when to appear in Columbus as witnesses. They waited until
some time in the month of April and then learned that the negroes, every
one of them, had been turned loose without any form of trial whatsoever.
Most of them left the country, fearing to return.
The leader, Rev.
William Long, who had belonged to Mr. Jacob Long, father of Mr. G.F. Long,
disappeared entirely, going North, no doubt. Lewis, a negro that belonged
to Mr. G.F. Long, remained in Columbia or near there and Mr. Long saw him
some years afterwards in that city, and subsequently received a letter
asking him for financial help, which he did not get. Lang Singley, who had
belonged to Mr. Jacob Long, returned after a time to the neighborhood and
on the night of Nov. 6, 1908, was shot and killed by Lou Singley, his
daughter-in-law who was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to two
years in the penitentiary.
There was at least one of the gang that
met his reward, though it is a pity that he could not have been hanged
three times to pay for the three lives that he had, by his own confession,
taken, one very close upon the other. His fate is best told by his own
confession (in 1866) which follows:
CONFESSION OF LONDON
JONES, FREEDMAN: By Rev. Samuel Leard, The Chester, S.C. Standard,
1866
In giving the following confession of the above
named notorious robber and murderer, London Jones, freedman, it is
necessary that I should state that I have given the facts as clearly as I
can, in his own words, and that I assume no responsibility as to the
truthfulness of his statements. They were made to me voluntarily on his
part, and with the knowledge that it was my intention to make them public.
He says:
" I was born in Newberry district, S.C. and am about
twenty-two years of age. I have no children. I formerly belonged to Mr.
Lambert Jones of Newberry district. I knew Belton Cline from a boy, and
regard him as wanting in good sense. I joined the Methodist church, South,
some years ago, under the ministry of the Rev. J.R. Pickett, but being
hired out to persons who treated me roughly, I soon lost all religious
concern and became reckless. In 1864 I went into the Army with my young
master and remained with him until the close of the war. About the 1st of
April, I moved to Columbia. But before that, on the Monday night before
Christmas, I helped to kill James Cureton. My gun was near his body when I
fired. He died some days afterward and if it was buckshot that killed him,
then I am the man that killed him, for my gun was loaded with
buckshot.
We went into the house after George Broom, who had
married Cureton's daughter, intending to shoot him but he got away. We did
not intend to rob the house or insult the females.
Belton Cline
brought Morris to me in Columbia and through their persuasion I agreed to
go to Chester to rob Mr. A.D. Walker. This was on Friday night before the
murder of Mr. Walker. I never saw Morris until that night. It was not our
intention to kill Mr Walker but only to rob him. We came on Sunday night
on the train from Columbia. Morris gave us whiskey but I was not drunk. I
knew all I was doing perfectly well. Morris laid the plan and we did just
as we were told to do. I jumped on Mr. Walker first, while Belt ran after
Mr. Estes. He (Walker) turned suddenly and asked "What do you mean?" I
threw him down and by that time Morris and Belt both came. I then started
after Estes and when I got about a hundred yards I heard a pistol fire. I
believe that Belton Cline shot Mr. Walker, as Morris was very angry about
his being killed and left us immediately. Belt and I then went to the
house for the purpose of scaring Estes. We did not intend to kill Mrs.
Walker or Estes as we easily could have done so if we wished. I cut the
wardrobe with an axe. We got only $6.85 in money besides the watch and
clothing. As we came back Belt ran his hand in Mr. Walker's pocket and got
out two dollars more. This happened on the night of the 22nd of
July.
On the following Wednesday we went into the neighborhood of
Mr. Lane in Newberry and watched for a chance to murder and rob him, until
Friday night when we accomplished it. There were six of us altogether.
(Mr. C.G. Clinton in Chester has their names in an affidavit made by
London Jones on Friday morning just before his execution.)
We
intended to murder Mr. Lane and then rob the house. Morris waked him up in
the yard when he was sleeping and by agreement made beforehand, while
Morris was talking to him, I slipped around behind him and struck him on
the head with an axe. The first blow killed him but I hit him the second
time to make sure of it. Belt and I then went through the house, hunting
the money, the most of which we gave to Morris, who put in in a carpet
bag. We put some into our own pockets and that was all we ever got. I had
some $800. afterwards and Belt gave me $100. more, in all $900. I have not
seen Morris since that night. Belt and I went to Petersburg, Va. where I
spent the most of my money gambling."
The above are the leading
particulars of the crime as detailed by London Jones to me within a few
days of his execution and we leave your readers to form their own judgment
as to their reliability. The circumstances connected with the
apprehension, trial and escape from prison and recapture are all to well
known to need repetition here. Of one subject alone in connection with the
prisoner we shall speak, and that is his repentance, and the apparent
change in his moral character. Soon after sentence of death was passed
upon him, I was sent for to visit him in prison. I found him in distress
of mind and very desirous of religious instruction. He seemed to have an
imperfect but real sorrow for the sins of his past life. He confessed his
ignorance of all religious experience, that he did not know how to pray,
and that he was afraid to stand in the presence of God with all his sins
resting upon him. I asked him if he had not had misgivings of conscience
while pursing his course of crime. He replied that he had been reckless
and did not at that time care what might happen to him. But now he had
time to reflect and could not think of the certain approach of death
without alarm.
A large part of Friday morning, the day of his
execution, I spent with him in his cell and left him at about an hour or
so before he was taken out, with a humble hope that God has been merciful
even to so vile a sinner as himself. He expressed great gratitude for the
kindnesses shown him during his imprisonment; begged the forgiveness of
all whom he had injured; sent messages to his young master, his mother and
wife and relatives; and with much apparent calmness and firmness, went to
his place of execution. Written by Samuel Leard
The Mr. Lane spoken
of in the above confession of London Jones was Mr.
Lemuel Lane, who was murdered at home in Newberry county in 1866.
One of the murderers was hanged in this county. Mr. Lane was the father of
Mr. J.J. Lane and of the late John C. and Wm. H. Lane and the grandfather
of Messrs. Ernest and Olin Lane.
Young Prosperity Man Accidentally Shot
Last Friday
Newberry
Observer - Tuesday, August 22, 1939
contributed by R. Bedenbaugh, with
corrections
Harold Hawkins, 20, a young farmer of
the St. Luke's section of Newberry county, was killed instantly Friday
night in a hunting accident while on a possum hunt with a number of his
friends near his home. Deputy Sheriff Hub Quattlebaum of
the sheriff's force who investigated the affair stated that Lindsay
Bedenbaugh, a member of the party, is said to have had in his
possession a revolver which he fired into the air three
times when the young men imagined they heard something, whereupon as
the last shot was fired it is said Hawkins fell mortally
wounded.
Bedenbaugh was placed under
a $1,000 bond for his appearance at an inquest held at 11 o'clock Monday
morning at Prosperity. The coroner's jury rendered the following
verdict:
"That Harold Bedenbaugh
(should read Harold Hawkins) came to his death by a pistol shot in the
hands of Lindsay Bedenbaugh, said shooting being unintentional and
accidental."
The other members of the
party were: Woodrow Bedenbaugh, W. P. Bedenbaugh, J. R. Bedenbaugh, Jr.,
( error - J.R. NOT a Jr.), McFall Bedenbaugh, Everett
Kibler and Carol Harmon. Hawkins and (Lindsay) Bedenbaugh were
neighbors.
Funeral services for
Hawkins were held at 10 o'clock, Sunday...
The New York Times
August 15, 1890
Contributed by Kim Baxley,
transcribed by Dena Whitesell
Four Men Terribly
Mangled
Columbia, S. C, Aug. 14.—A special to the Daily Register
from Newberry, this State, says: News reached here to-day of a
terrible boiler
explosion which occurred this morning at a country saw mill twelve miles
west of Newberry, on Dr. W. M. Dorron's place.
Four men, one white and three
colored, were killed and two colored men seriously wounded. Pickens
B. Matthews, white, son of the owner of the mill, met with an awful fate.
He was litterally blown to atoms, his limbs being found some distance
from the scene of the
explosion and other portions of his body suspended in trees. The
colored men, Carey Davis, Thomas Ellison, and William Chambers, had their heads blown off and
were otherwise terribly mutilated.
Milton Babb, colored, had his thigh
badly smashed and Walter Davis was fearfully scalded. A colored boy
named Young, about
twelve years old, was the only one who escaped uninjured.
A Passenger
Train Falls Through a Trestle near Columbia, S.C. - Three Persons Killed,
Three Fatally and Many others
A Passenger Train Falls Through a Trestle
near Columbia, S.C.
Three Persons Killed,
Three Fatally and Many others Seriously Injured.
The New York
Times
November 12, 1870
Contributed by Kim Baxley, transcribed by
Dena Whitesell
Columbia, S. C, Nov. 11.—A terrible accident occurred on the
Greenville and Columbia Railroad, yesterday, about twelve
miles above Columbia.
The passenger train due here at 3:46 P. M from Greenville, fell through
the trestle work. The baggage and passenger cars were precipitated to the ground,
a distance ol fully twenty-five feet. One passenger car
remained on the track,
being supported by tbe wreck, A relief train was dispatched to the scene
of the disaster immediately on the receipt of the news, and returned to this
city with the dead and wounded at 12 o'clock last night. Mrs. Philip
Fogarty, who was returning with her family to her home in
Charleston, was killed; also Charles Jay, of Newberry, S.
C; Grace Montague,
colored stewardess, and Minerva Parr, colored. The following persons were
fatally injured; Stephen Smith, of Newberry; Hatson Lennox, colored, State Senator
from Abbeville, and Ex-Confederate Col. James Hagood, of
South Carolina. A
number of others were seriously and painfully
injured.
Additional Particulars— (Cause of the
Disaster—More Names of Wounded.
Charleston, Nov. 11.—The accident
on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad was caused by the breaking of a
wheel. A portion
of the train was thrown from the track while passing over the trestle; the
trestle gave way, and the mail-car, second-class, and two other passenger-cars broke through to
the ground. The engine, tender and the last passenger-car
were left on the
track. In addition to those mentioned in the Columbia dispatch as wounded,
are: Stephen Smith, conductor; Isaacs, express messenger; C. A. Barnes, Miss M.
Joy, of Newberry, and Major L. Hill.
The New York Times
September
30, 1900
Murder in a Colored Church
Two Preachers in South Carolina Shot by Rival Faction While
Conducting the Service
Special to The New York
Times
Contributed by Kim Baxley, transcribed by Dena Whitesell
Columbia, S.C., Sept 29 -As the climax to a war of more than
a year's duration, between opposing factions in the congregation of the Belmont colored
Baptist Church, situated in the backwoods of Newberry County, the pastor
of the church, the
Rev. Young Reeder, and a visiting preacher and supporter of Reeder, the
Rev. Henry Williams, were shot in the pupit by assassins last night, Reeder receiving a death
wound.
Part of the congregation notified the ministers that if they
attempted to preach last night they would be killed, and the
ministers
had every reason to believe this threat would be carried out, but they had
prepared to hold a big prayer meeting and refused to take heed.
A big crowd was
gathered at the church, every member of the congregation being
present with many
visitors. The two preachers came in together, and when the church was
filled began the service, opening with prayer. This was followed
with the singing of a
hymn and succeeded by a prayer. The congregation was kneeling.
Reeder was praying aloud, his supporters punctuating the prayer with fervent "
Amens."
In the meantime several members of the congregation had
slipped out into the night. There was an open window behind
the pulpit. On the
sill of this window several muzzles rested for a
moment, then all flashed together. Reeder and Williams fell, the former being shot
through the middle of the back.
Pandemonium reigned in the church
for a few minutes, but there was no more bloodshed. Friends of Reeder
captured ten members of the congregation, and they are in jail charged
with murdering the preachers.
Troubles in this church have been
occasioned by antagonism to Reeder by part of the congregation. They have
had several rows, and
a month ago there was a riot in the church, in which many heads were
broken, the women fighting and scratching with the men.
Reedor has been the favorite
of the larger part of the women in the congregation.
The South Carolina
Kuklux
Attack Upon a Colored County Commissioner in His Own
House - He is Shot Twice and His Wife and Child are Wounded - One of the
Gany Shot and Severely Injured by Him - A Girl Brutally Whipped.
The
New York Times - May 19, 1871
Contributed by Kim Baxley, transcribed by
Dena Whitesell
From the Columbia (S.C.) Union - May 16 - The Kuklux, to the number of
abut 100, made one of their characteristic visits to Newberry Court-house,
Sunday morning, between 1 and 2 o'clcok, and succeded in shooting one
county officer, wounding him in two places, and it is thought, fatally
wounding his wife, she being shot through the back, and also wounding her
child of three years of age, through both hips.
The facts, as narrated to us by Mr. Simeon Young, (colored), the
wounded man, who is Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, and
whom was visited last evening, upon his arrival in this city, are as
follows: Young says, "I live in the town of Newberry, and on Sunday
morning last, between 1 and 2 o'clock, my wife woke me up, saying there
was Kuklux outside. I immediately jumped out of bed and took my rifle.
They broke in the window of the bedroom and threw a turpentine ball into
the room, which I smothered with a blanket. They then went to the front
door of the house, burst that in, and threw several of the turpentine
balls into the room, which made it light, and then burst open the bedroom
door, and fired through the partition some ten or twelve shots, wounding
my wife through the back, and my child through both hips, as they lay in
bed. After pushing the door shut several times, I let it come open and
fired upon the nearest man, wounding him severely. I then jumped through
the window, and as I was running through the crowd, and about to leap the
fences, I received two shots in the thigh."
This is the statement of Mr. Young as made to our reporter last
evening, and it is corroborated by other parties, both white and colored,
who were witnessess to some parts of the subsequent proceedings. The squad
that came to Young's house numbered about thirty, being nearly one-third
of the party, the remainder of the band remaining in the road, except when
one squad was sent to visit the house of Trial Justice Long, who secreted
himself and escaped then. On Sunday night they also visited the residence
of David Hailstock, another of the County Commissioners, but he had
intimation of their coming and took to the woods, and thus eluded
them.
The Kuklux wounded by Young, at his hosue, turns out to be a man names
Watt Waulkner, who was formerly a gambler in this city. He is very
seriously wounded, and it is reported amputation of one leg will be
necessary. After he had been shot, his companions pressed into service a
horse carriage and driver, from the stable, and carried him about four
miles from town. The matter was so atrocions, however, that the Sheriff
proceeded to the locality and arrested Faulkner on Sunday, and lodged him
in jail, where he was yesterday. The impression prevails, however, that
his release will be attempted by his comrades.
There was another shooting scrape also in Newberry, yesterday, growing
out of the refusal by a colored man to exchange silver money for
greenbacks. Upon his refusal, a young man living about four miles from
town fired four shots at the colored man. None took effect.
Information was received yesterday of the killing by the Kuklux of a
man near Gist's Station, on the Spartanburg and Union Railroad, on
Saturday night, and also of the brutal whipping of a young girl at the
same time and place.
The South Carolina Kuklux
The Cold-Blooded
Murder of the Wounded Man, Faulkner - Testimony at the Cornoner's
Inquest
The New York Times - June 3, 1871
From the Columbia (S.C.) Union, May 31 - On the 25th inst. there
appeared in the columns of this paper an account of the murder of
Faulkner, the Newberry Kuklux, by some persons unknown. The following
report of the proceedings of the Coroner's inquest upon the body of the
murdered Faulkner will set all doubts at rest. Faulkner was lying at the
house of a Mr. Williams, in Edgefield County, attended by his wife, and,
it is said, was about to be moved to North Carolina, intending, no doubt,
to forfeit his bail and leave the State. The evidence discloses a
cold-blooded murder, and is as follows:
The acting Coroner who held the inquest was Mr. L. Colbreath, Trial
Justice, and the foreman of the jury was Rev. John Trapp. Mr. J. C.
Williams testified as follows:
That a man came to his father's house on the evening of the 20th inst.
and said he wished to see a Mr. Faulkner, who, he understood, was in the
house wounded. He said to Mr. Williams that his business was to apprise
the wounded man that his whereabouts was known, and also fo the danger he
was in if he remained any longer in his present condition; that he came as
a friend, and asked Mr. Williams if he could loan him a wagon to carry
away the wounded man. After the said converstation with the stranger Mr.
Williams returned to the house and acquainted Mr. Faulkner with what the
stranger had said, and at the same time asked Mr. Faulkner if he must let
him come in. Mr. Faulkner said "Yes, let him come in." I then returned to
the gate and told the gentleman he might go in and talk with Mr. Faulkner.
When the gentleman arrived at the door of the room where Mr. Faulkner lay,
he requested to speak privately to Mr. Faulkner. So Mr. Faulkner requested
myself and Mrs. Falulkner to retire, which we did.
After talking a short time he came out of the room and went toward the
gate. As soon as the gentleman left the room, I entered and asked Mr.
Faulkner what he thought of the stranger. He replied that he thought he
(the stranger), was his friend, and that he had gone out to bring in a
person whom he knew. The strange gentleman again returned and said he
wished to deliver a message he had from the gentleman who was at the gate.
So Mr. Faulkner asked myself and his wife to leave the room again until
the stranger delivered the message. The stranger remained in the room a
short time, and when he came out, asked me to accompany him down to the
gate and remain with the horses until he and the other gentleman came in
and saw Mr. Faulkner together. So I walked with him down to the gate, but
saw no horses. Just as I was passing through the gate, up rose three men,
who presented pistols at me, and told me if I attempted to move they would
shoot me dead. I told them I would obey their commands. The genlteman who
came with me from the house, beckoned to one of the four men who were at
the gate. The two men ran to the house, rushed into the room, and fired
two shots at Mr. Faulkner, both of them taking effect, one passing through
his head and the other through the thigh. Immediately after the posrts of
the pistols, the two men ran with all their might down to the gate where
the other three men were, who had me in custody. I was then told to go to
the house. The five men then ran off with all their might. I then hastened
to the house, and found Mr. Faulkner a corpse. I did not know any of the
men.
The evidence of Mrs. Faulkner was very short, the substance of
which is as follows:
Mrs. Faulkner was in the room when a strange person came in and asked
my husband to have me hide my face; I left the room by the request of Mr.
Faulkner; after the stranger left the room, I returned to the room where
Mr. Faulkner was, and asked him what he thought of the stranger; he said
he thought the man was his friend, but that he was afraid of the party,
but said the gentleman was going to bring in another gentleman by the name
of Taylor, who lived at Saluda Old Town, and that they were to remove him
(Mr. Faulkner) four or five miles tonight, and that they had a spring
wagon to carry him, but that she must not go along with him, as they were
to take him (Mr. Faulkner) to North Carolina, and that she could follow in
a few days; that she would be informed of his whereabouts.
The foregoing is a complete history of this affair. It is said that
Faulkner had talked too freely for one place in his position, and that
this was the means taken to prevent a further divulgence of the terrible
secrets which he possessed.
The New York
Times
September 30, 1900
Murder in a Colored
Church
Two Preachers in South Carolina Shot by
Rival Faction While Conducting the Service
Special to The New
York Times
Contributed by Kim Baxley, transcribed by Dena Whitesell
Columbia, S.C., Sept 29 -As the climax to a war of more than
a year's duration, between opposing factions in the congregation of the Belmont colored
Baptist Church, situated in the backwoods of Newberry County, the pastor
of the church, the Rev. Young Reeder, and a visiting preacher and
supporter of Reeder, the Rev. Henry Williams, were shot in
the pupit by assassins
last night, Reeder receiving a death wound (He actually died in 1940 of tuberculosis in New York City
while living with his daughter).
Part of the congregation notified
the ministers that if they attempted to preach last night they would be
killed, and the
ministers had every reason to believe this threat would
be carried out, but they had prepared to hold a big prayer
meeting and refused to
take heed.
A big crowd was gathered at the church, every member of
the congregation being present with
many visitors. The two preachers came in together, and when
the church was filled began the service, opening with prayer. This was
followed with the
singing of a hymn and succeeded by a prayer. The congregation was
kneeling. Reeder was praying aloud, his supporters punctuating the prayer with
fervent " Amens."
In the meantime several members of the
congregation had slipped out into the night. There was an open
window behind the
pulpit. On the sill of this window several muzzles rested for
a moment, then all flashed together. Reeder and Williams fell, the former being shot
through the middle of the back.
Pandemonium reigned in the church
for a few minutes, but there was no more bloodshed. Friends of Reeder
captured ten members of the congregation, and they are in jail charged
with murdering the preachers.
Troubles in this church have been
occasioned by antagonism to Reeder by part of the congregation. They have
had several rows, and
a month ago there was a riot in the church, in which many heads were
broken, the women fighting and scratching with the men.
Reedor has been the favorite
of the larger part of the women in the
congregation. |
